I don’t pay nearly as much attention to baseball as I once did, despite that we’re living in kind of the era of the immediate, where tweets, alerts, push notifications and other means of instant communication exist to stay on top of things very easily if one really wanted to, like baseball news. Often times, I miss out on Braves news much less any news around baseball, because I simply am not that deeply involved like I once did, and everything that happened in the baseball landscape was something I wanted to know.
However, among the things that I regularly Googled and checked on from time to time, was one of the pitchers that I really, really enjoyed watching and was a fan of: Jonny Venters. Long story short, he was once an unhittable relief pitcher on the Braves, utilizing a left-handed power sinker from another planet, and even achieved All-Star status for his immense talent. But the injury bug struck, and he underwent the dreaded Tommy John elbow surgery, and eventually he was released by the Braves. Didn’t matter where he went, I knew that I was going to root for Jonny, and so I always kind of kept an ear to the ground even when he was signed by the Rays, fully knowing that it was going to be some time before he was cleared to pitch again.
Last summer, things looked really optimistic, and Jonny Venters made his way into the minor leagues to work his way back up. Personally, I was stoked to see him taking the mound again, and I grew excited at the prospect of him getting back into game shape, and then getting called up by the Rays, who would unleash the power sinker from the left side onto the mostly unsuspecting American League.
Unfortunately, five games into his rehabilitation assignment, something went wrong, and Jonny Venters tore his UCL, for the fourth time. He was immediately shut down again, and another season-ending surgery was likely. By this point, Venters had already underwent Tommy John surgery three times, and all signs pointed towards the end of his career, as nobody in baseball had ever gone under the knife four times, much less made their way back.
It made me sad to think that Venters’ career could be over, but it would be understandable given the circumstances. But I had hoped that he would solder forward and try once again, because MLB is a better place with Jonny Venters churning outs, regardless of whom he plays for.
Just recently, I discovered that not only is Venters not giving up, the Rays have decided to extend more faith into one day acquiring his recovered services, by signing him to another contract, fully knowing that he won’t really be pitching any time soon. Sure, it’s a minor league deal, and those always have a high chance of ending up being cut on a moment’s notice, but it’s nice to know that someone out there still has faith that things will improve, he’ll recover, and he might not be the same 97 mph power pitcher he once was, but that sinker could play in any era of baseball.
Apparently, he found a way to recover and rehabilitate without the need of a fourth Tommy John, so who knows how this is going to unfold, but for what it’s worth, I’m ecstatic to see that Jonny Venters’ career is not over, and the chance that I’ll get to see him take the hill once again still lives. This is easily going to be one of the key things that I’ll have my eye on as the season progresses, and hopefully we’ll see him back in the Majors sooner rather than later.
